Aris Spiliotopulos, Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, called for “dialog for education”

Aris Spiliotopulos, who was appointed as “Minister for Education and Religious Affairs” in January 2009, announced the Ministry’s initiation for “dialog for education”. According to the news of Cemil Kabza from daily Gundem, Spiliotopulos stated that he was open for the dialog and any proposals aimed at solving educational problems. According to the survey related with the new initiation of the Ministry, 77.3% of the participants stated that they were in favor of radical changes in primary school education while 85% of the participants believed that high school education needed serious transformations. Yet, any statements regarding the educational problems of the Western Thrace Minority existed in the survey.

Mr. Spiliotopulos, who was the Minister of Tourism before his post as the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, stated at a press conference that Turkey and Greece should forget the old bad memories and give up the fear fanaticism. “Turkey and Greece should take our roles together in the global world. Some circles want to use hate as a political tool and we should not allow this to happen. Our citizens want to live in peace.” affirmed Spiliotopulos, signaling that he was a representative of a new paradigm for the Greek-Turkey relations. Yet, it was a source of concern for the Western Thrace Turkish minority that any statements regarding the educational problems of the Western Thrace Minority existed in the survey.

Education is one of the most problematic areas for the Western Thrace Turkish minority. Minority with a population of 150 thousand people in the Western Thrace has an autonomous structure that was maintained by the Lausanne Treaty and bilateral agreements between Greek State and Turkey.

Despite the recent improvements in the educational system of the Western Thrace, system has some acute problems. For example, schedule problem of Selanik Ozel Pedagoji Akademi (Selanik Private Pedagogy Academy) has not been solved for years. On top of that, a new law was adopted recently which compels 1 year pre-school education without any special treatment to minority children. Thus, it is a discriminatory act as it does not take into account the cultural differences of the minorities.

Western Thrace Turkish minority wants to solve the minority’s educational problems with the Greek State and Ministry of Education in accordance with mutual respect and tolerance principles. ABTTF invites Mr. Spiliotopulos to conduct dialog with the minority to solve the problems under the framework of new initiative of the Ministry “Dialog for Education”.